The alpha radiation of DU, which is depleted by the roughly 5% of U235 removed for fuel, (if you didn't know that you have no place commenting frankly it is the most basic fact) and no more, is predominantly giving off Alpha radiation. This is not normally a danger because Alpha radiation will not penetrate a piece of paper let alone the skin. It has a short range of mere millimetres. The problems arise from the following.
A large percentage of the DU is aerosolised, especially when pyrolised; into particles of 10 microns or less. These are easily breathed into the lungs where they cross the Alveoli and enter the bloodstream and lymphatic system easily. The particles which are actually a Ceramic Uranium Oxide, have a natural chemical affinity for DNA, and can in fact pass through the cell walls and enter the Nucleus. From here the very low level radiation acts directly upon the RNA as the cells divide, which is why the worst effects are to the Gametes. This RADIATION is enough to alter the DNA seriously and yet not strong enough to kill the cell. This is the worst possible scenario for causing cancers and deformities.
A particularly troublesome aspect which is touched upon in the article is that the stuff in such small particle sizes just keeps on recycling within the body, not being excreted but passing from cell to cell. This is why a mere few particles can cause serious harm. Also why those exposed are still testing positive many years later.
It is most assuredly the radiation component which is the most serious. The fact that the stuff is also poisonous as a heavy metal is actually no where near it's most hideous aspect though it is no laughing matter either.
I think you should be a little more careful when you spout off. I have been thoroughly immersed in the DU issues for many years now and personally know Leuren Moret and Douge Rokke. There are several epidemiological studies and now laboratory studies as well which confirm the dangers and most certainly those of the Alpha radiation. There is also some Beta I believe but not much I can say on that. The much more obviously dangerous Gamma radiation is the primary type given off by the U235, component which is as I said removed. BUT it is not even all the Gamma radiation then, there is till some of it behind too. It is the Gamma radiation which is about 60% of the natural product, but even that is misleading. In nature Uranium occurs as an ore and is no where near as dangerous. What you really mean is that DU has about 60% of the Gamma radiation of refined pure Uranium. The gamma radiation is not the real issue though and it is used by Pentagon Shills to try and create a strawman argument, or introduce a Red Herring. Say Hi to Lt Col Roger Helbig for me, assuming you are not him.
[hey, you know I haven't heard from "Helbig" in a few weeks!]
A large percentage of the DU is aerosolised, especially when pyrolised; into particles of 10 microns or less. These are easily breathed into the lungs where they cross the Alveoli and enter the bloodstream and lymphatic system easily. The particles which are actually a Ceramic Uranium Oxide, have a natural chemical affinity for DNA, and can in fact pass through the cell walls and enter the Nucleus. From here the very low level radiation acts directly upon the RNA as the cells divide, which is why the worst effects are to the Gametes. This RADIATION is enough to alter the DNA seriously and yet not strong enough to kill the cell. This is the worst possible scenario for causing cancers and deformities.
A particularly troublesome aspect which is touched upon in the article is that the stuff in such small particle sizes just keeps on recycling within the body, not being excreted but passing from cell to cell. This is why a mere few particles can cause serious harm. Also why those exposed are still testing positive many years later.
It is most assuredly the radiation component which is the most serious. The fact that the stuff is also poisonous as a heavy metal is actually no where near it's most hideous aspect though it is no laughing matter either.
I think you should be a little more careful when you spout off. I have been thoroughly immersed in the DU issues for many years now and personally know Leuren Moret and Douge Rokke. There are several epidemiological studies and now laboratory studies as well which confirm the dangers and most certainly those of the Alpha radiation. There is also some Beta I believe but not much I can say on that. The much more obviously dangerous Gamma radiation is the primary type given off by the U235, component which is as I said removed. BUT it is not even all the Gamma radiation then, there is till some of it behind too. It is the Gamma radiation which is about 60% of the natural product, but even that is misleading. In nature Uranium occurs as an ore and is no where near as dangerous. What you really mean is that DU has about 60% of the Gamma radiation of refined pure Uranium. The gamma radiation is not the real issue though and it is used by Pentagon Shills to try and create a strawman argument, or introduce a Red Herring. Say Hi to Lt Col Roger Helbig for me, assuming you are not him.
[hey, you know I haven't heard from "Helbig" in a few weeks!]
2 comments:
I think you may be exaggerating the science on this. Surely we shouldn't turn to folks like Moret and Rokke for answers, in any event. They are NOT experts, not to mention being extremely biased and agenda-driven.
Here is an expert.
You know, cigarette smoking is a potent source of Alpha radiation too. I think vastly more potent than someone by chance inhaling a few tiny particles of aerosolized DU. Smoking is not good for you, although in moderation it may have some beneficial side-effects for prevention of certain diseases, but nobody talks about second hand or even first hand smoke in terms of being a 4.5 billion year threat to humans and the environment everywhere.
I don't think a few experiments in Petri dishes with heavy concentrations translate into real world complete human systems being at risk, at least at doses one could reasonably expect to receive as a by product of wars.
Go and snort DU dust daily over a period of years, howerver, and yes, that would likely be very harmful.
It's all in the dose.
You'd be far more productive to aim your guns at cigarette smoking, which actually has been documented to have been complicit in millions of deaths. DU has caused non.
I see the person who claims to be a "lady" still is neither lady nor informed. Too bad because she spends so much energy pushing false information. Reason you have not heard from me is that I was not reading mail for a week and have been quite busy - you are so misinformed -- all you need to do is go see your local college physics and chemistry professors and learn a bit about uranium. The aerosolized claim is pretty much nonsense -- uranium condenses from a gas to a solid at about 3000 degrees Centigrade. UNEP and IAEA have done field work and found that DU does not migrate far from the impacted armored target and that DU penetrators that do not hit the target generally remain intact and present little harm to anyone. Now, if you want to volunteer to go clear the desert, remember that you are far more likely to die from an IED or perhaps by being beheaded on camera. Those factors have tended to discourage a reasonable effort to assess and clean up the DU in the Iraq desert.
Roger Helbig
rwhelbig at gee mail dot com
Depleted Uranium in Bosnia and Herzegovina - Postconflict
Assessment http://postconflict.unep.ch/publications/BiH_DU_report.pd
f
* *
300 pg detailed UN Environmental Programme Report
http://postconflict.unep.ch/publications/BiH_DU_report.pdf
*Radiological Conditions in Areas of Kuwait With Residues of Depleted Uranium*
http://www-
pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1164_web.pdf%20
*
Includes Appendix III - Experiments to Examine Resuspension
http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1164_web.pdf
*Uranium Emitted from Coal Fired Power
Plants* http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev26-
34/text/colmain.html
* *
Even U-235 is emitted from coal fired plants
http://www.ornl.gov/info/ornlreview/rev26-34/text/colmain.html
*Los Alamos - Researchers find time in dusty polar
ice*
http://www.lanl.gov/news/index.php/fuseaction/home.story/story_i
d/1034
* *
Note that this uses measurements of "femtograms" - one quadrillionth
of a
gram -- same (except misspelled) measurement as that for Specialist
Matthew
Gerard of NY National Guard
http://www.lanl.gov/news/index.php/fuseaction/home.story/story_id/1034
correction the unit of measure for one quadrillionth of a gram is
the fem (with an M) togram, not fentogram (that is the spelling used by Juan
Gonzales in his NY Daily News article - Gonzales got his paper to have the NY Guardsmen tested by the UMRC which found this extremely low level of so-called DU -- more than likely
natural uranium in each of them. The health claims that they then make
sound more like a sitcom than real life.
*Guided Bomb Unit-28 (GBU-28) Bunker Buster - Smart
Weapons* http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/smart/gbu-28.htm%20
* *
Bunker Buster Bomb - Federation of American Scientists - Note that
there is
NO DU in this bomb
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/smart/gbu-28.htm
Rokke and Moret claim that Israel used these DU tipped bombs in
Lebanon - Rokke went so far as to claim that the DU dust cloud would drift
across the Mediterranean and poison the island of Cypress. Note that there is
no DU in this bunker buster bomb -- then take a look at Miraki's claims again
about DU in Afghanistan .. Muhammed Daud Miraki is a con artist and he will
someday get his just due, but for now he is basking in the lecture
circuit with fellow con artists Rokke and Moret
*Army Environmental Policy Institute Report on
DU*
http://www.aepi.army.mil/Library/AEPI%
20Publications/DU/techreport.html
* *
This comprehensive report was requested in 1992 - It has in depth
discussion
of radiological and chemical properties of DU
http://www.aepi.army.mil/Library/AEPI%
20Publications/DU/techreport.html
*Documents - VA Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War
Illnesses*
http://www1.va.gov/RAC-GWVI/page.cfm?pg=13
* *
Reports of this committee founded in 2002
http://www1.va.gov/RAC-GWVI/page.cfm?pg=13
What have researchers really found to be the cause of diseases
collectively
known as Gulf War Syndrome?
*RAND Literature Review on Health Effects of DU
1999*
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/mr1018.7.pref.html
* *
Detailed Review by RAND Researchers
http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/library/randrep/du/mr1018.7.pref.html
*Screening for depleted uranium in the United Kingdom armed forces:
who
wants it and why? * http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/58/7/558
Kings College Study of UK Veterans Who Claim Exposure to DU
http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/58/7/558
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